pagoda

Part 2 of Joseph’s Mekong River journey through Cambodia and Vietnam finds him in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh where he embarks on a tuk-tuk tour of the city’s highlights. He visits the royal palace with its stupas, pagodas and pavilions and pays homage to the country’s spiritual heritage, as well as its colonial past. In local markets and restaurants where the fare can range from lobsters to tarantulas, he learns how, with the help of foreign NGOs, the country is recovering from its devastating Khmer Rouge history of war and ruin. Then Joseph follows the Mekong’s flow into Vietnam where the Mekong River Delta spreads its seven arms across Southwest Vietnam. Here in the countryside towns, river villages and floating markets he experiences post-war Vietnamese life. As Joseph’s Mekong River voyage ends he understands that after centuries of struggle, at the core of Cambodia and Vietnam’s resurgence are their resiliente people who have overcome the unimaginable time and time again and are now ready to greet the world with open arms.

During Part 1 of Joseph’s Mekong River voyage through Cambodia and Vietnam he travels from the temple mountains of Angkor and its UNESCO World Heritage sites, to the river towns and villages of the Mekong river valley. Along the way he explores the country’s history and spiritual roots in its ancient Buddhist pagodas and monasteries. On visits to weaving, stonecutter and silversmith villages, he celebrates the Cambodian people’s creativity and resilience. In Cambodia’s sprawling countryside against a backdrop of farmland and rice fields he comes face to face with Cambodia’s tragic past in the killings fields of the Khmer Rouge genocide. As the episode ends Joseph is poised to enter the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh as he continues to go with the Mekong’s flow on to Vietnam and the Mekong River Delta.